Don Valentine

Donald "Don" T. Valentine

Don Valentine in 2009. Photograph by Steve Jurvetson
Born Donald T. Valentine
(1932-06-26) June 26, 1932
Alma mater Fordham University
Occupation Venture Capitalist

Donald T. "Don" Valentine (born 26 June 1932) is an influential venture capitalist who concentrates mainly on technology companies in the United States.[1] He has been called the "grandfather of Silicon Valley venture capital".[2][3] The Computer History Museum credited him as playing "a key role in the formation of a number of industries such as semiconductors, personal computers, personal computer software, digital entertainment and networking."[4]

Career

After graduating with a B.A. from Fordham University,[5] he began his technology career in the 1950s and was a founder of National Semiconductor, as well as being a senior sales and marketing executive for Fairchild Semiconductor.[6][7][3]

In 1972, he founded venture capital firm Sequoia Capital,[3][8] and in that role was one of the original investors of Apple Computer, Atari, LSI Logic, Oracle Corporation, Cisco, Electronic Arts, Google, YouTube and many other companies.[9] Sequoia Capital is a venture capital firm whose funds invest in seed and start-up financing of early-stage companies.[7]

Valentine is a former Chairman of NetApp and Traiana. He has, over decades, served on the boards of many other technology companies including Apple, Atari, C-Cube, Cisco Systems, Electronic Arts, Linear Technology, LSI Logic, Microchip Technology, NetApp, Oracle, PMC-Sierra.[10][8] Valentine was featured in the documentary film Something Ventured which premiered in 2011.[11]

Personal life

Don Valentine has three children and seven grandchildren, all of whom live in the Bay Area. Don is Catholic and has a Danish grandfather.[12]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Don Valentine.
  1. ↑ "Donald T. Valentine". Bloomberg Businessweek. October 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ Gilbert, Alorie (November 27, 2004). "Legendary venture capitalist looks ahead". CNET News.
  3. 1 2 3 Karlgaard, Rich (December 9, 2005). "Don Valentine, Venture Capitalist". Forbes.
  4. ↑ "Donald T. Valentine". Computer History Museum.
  5. ↑ "Donald T. Valentine - Executive Bio, Compensation History, and Contacts - Equilar Atlas". people.equilar.com. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  6. ↑ Ingram, Matthew (October 14, 2010). "Lessons From Silicon Valley VC Legend Don Valentine". Gigaom.
  7. 1 2 "Donald T. Valentine | Computer History Museum". www.computerhistory.org. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  8. 1 2 "Donald T. Valentine: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek". Businessweek.com. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  9. ↑ "Donald Valentine: Executive Profile & Biography". BusinessWeek.
  10. ↑ "Sequoia Capital - Don Valentine Profile".
  11. ↑ Rao, Leena. "Something Ventured: VC Titans Don Valentine And Tom Perkins Will Take The Stage At Disrupt SF". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  12. ↑ http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/valentine_donald.pdf

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.